Doug Whitmore of Kansas City is a former member EAPPI (the Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel sponsored by the World Council of Churches) and served in Jayyous in the occupied West Bank. Earlier today he received the following email from a friend in Jayyous. In passing it along, he removed the young man’s name out of concern that he would suffer reprisal from the Israelis. I have corrected some spelling errors in the note.
Dear Friends:
Last night at 1:30 big number of Israeli military come to the village, and they attack three houses and arrested three people from the village. The first one is Wajde Baida. He is close friend to me, he work in house building and computer programs, they entered his house by a very bad way, they broke the door and go inside and they search all the houses and they destroyed the things in his house like computer, TV, and his brother he wake up with guns in his head so when he saw that because he was sleeping he get lost for a while. And this the second time for him to be arrested.
The second one Ismaile Baida he work with agriculture organization. They inter his house and search all the house also and they scared the children there and the bad thing also they do burn al Quran in his house and threw it away. This the second time also for him to be arrested.
The third one he work in the Palestinian police in Ramallah and they do the same thing is his house and he was injured by the Israel army in his hand so he cant move it any more.
Life in Jayyous still so complicated and hard for people, there is no freedom, no peace. I don’t know when we will have our small right in the life.
Whitmore’s wife Andy adds: It happens all the time, the arrests. It happened when Doug was there, it happens every minute somewhere. They don’t need a reason. Sometimes, Doug thought, the soldiers just got bored. This from a week ago, for example (10/20): “Last week the Israeli army was in the village and they arrested a young person he study in the university. And on [date deleted] was my birthday but I dont celebrate it , because my best birthday will be when I see Palestine is free and we have our freedom and our right in the life.”
Update: I got Doug Whitmore’s i.d. wrong when I posted this. I said he was with Christian Peacemaker Teams. He was with EAPPI, which has had a presence in Jayyous for a number of years. CPT is in Hebron/Al-Khalil and At-Tuwani.
